The Pittsburgh Pirates enter play Sunday afternoon losers of 10 out of its past 12 games and are looking to avoid dropping a fourth consecutive series, this time against the Cincinnati Reds.
Ryan Vogelsong (3-4, 4.07 ERA) will be facing Brandon Finnegan (8-10, 4.17 ERA). Vogelsong is coming off a no decision against the St. Louis Cardinals in which he allowed five runs on six hits over four innings.
He is 5-5 with a 4.34 ERA in 21 career appearances (11 starts) against the ... Read More

Milwaukee Brewers shortstop Orlando Arcia entered Saturday night's game a .184 hitter but left PNC Park having recorded three hits that helped give the Brewers a 7-4 series clinching victory against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Arcia ended up a home run shy of the cycle.
On the Pirates end, they got Brewers starting pitcher Jimmy Nelson to walk a season-high six batters and allow four hits while elevating his pitch count to 99 pitches over 5.1.
Despite this, the Pirates scored one run off ... Read More

Jordan Comadena was preparing for another busy day as a volunteer baseball coach at Purdue University when the phone rang one morning. Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle was on the line.
Comadena's major league dreams appeared to be halted in the minor leagues. However, Hurdle's call, which came on a Monday in early April, was a job offer to join the team as a bullpen catcher.
“It's just kind of a wild ride with some luck and good fortune,” Comadena says of hearing about the position. ... Read More

When a new closer is named, there are a number of changes that need to be made. When the Pittsburgh Pirates' Tony Watson was named the team's closer after the departure of Mark Melancon, those changes included new walk-up music and a new video package.
Watson chose “Sweet Emotion,” an Aerosmith song off the band's 1975 “Toys in the Attic” album.
“The song was by default,” Watson said. “I wanted ‘When the Levee Breaks,’ but Jamo's got that one, and I'm not going to take it from him. We ... Read More

The MLB All-Star Game is commonly referred to as three or four of the busiest days in a baseball season, so when Pittsburgh Pirates left fielder Starling Marte and closer Mark Melancon were named to the National League All-Star team, there was a lot of work to be done.
Work that doesn’t actually even happen on the field.
When Marte and Melancon were named to the All-Star team, clubhouse manager Scott “Bones” Bonnett and traveling secretary Greg Johnson had to immediately go to work, ... Read More

There already were fireworks by the fifth inning celebrating Pittsburgh's Bicentennial, but in Saturday's Pittsburgh Pirates game against the Chicago Cubs, Josh Bell was not satisfied.
In his second major league game, Bell took a swing at a 1-1 Adam Warren (3-2) pitch and when he saw it in the air, gave a jump and fist pump all while screaming "let's go" as he rounded the bases for his first career home run.
Bell had hit a grand slam 107 miles-per-hour off the bat and was the first ... Read More

After a big comeback win Friday against the Chicago Cubs, the Pittsburgh Pirates hope there's another win in store when they take on the Cubs for the second game of the series.
Saturday, Pirates rookie Chad Kuhl (1-0. 4.09 ERA) will face Chicago's Jon Lester (9-4, 2.67 ERA). The game will be Kuhl's third career Major League start. In his first, he defeated Los Angeles Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw; Kuhl tossed five innings and allowed three runs.
In his most recent start, Kuhl battled ... Read More

It seems so simple: a pitcher throws a pitch, and a batter either looks at it or swings.
But, in reality, it’s much more complicated than that. It’s this game of cat-and-mouse game between a pitcher, catcher and hitter that determines success, wins and so much more.
So you wanna be a pitcher?
The pitcher has the most control in an at-bat — after all, the ball is in his hand. He dictates the pitch, and he relies on a variety of different things to determine what he should throw.
“The ... Read More

Up 4-0 in Monday's game, it appeared the Pittsburgh Pirates were well on their way to a sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers. But before anyone could say, “Get out the brooms,” the Pirates gave up the lead and lost the game 5-4.
The Pirates got the Dodgers on the ropes early when Los Angeles pitcher Scott Kazmir struggled through a 40-pitch first inning. Pittsburgh left fielder Starling Marte started the scoring with an RBI single. Right fielder Sean Rodriguez added to the tally by drawing a ... Read More

The Pittsburgh Pirates had a five-run lead in Wednesday's game, but they were unable to keep it, falling 7-6 to the San Francisco Giants.
This loss hurts. A lot. The Pirates had no reason losing this game, but they did.
It appeared things were looking up for the struggling Pirates offense when first baseman John Jaso led off the bottom of the first inning with a first-pitch home run off San Francisco starting pitcher Jeff Samardzija. The power became contagious for the Pirates, as Gregory ... Read More